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February 08, 2019

Welcome to FierceLifeSci Weekly Digest, your roundup of the biggest and most popular stories from each of our publications.

Featured Story

Bristol-Myers yanked its Celgene bid days before deadline—and got a better price

On Dec. 10, Bristol-Myers Squibb made what it called its final offer to buy Celgene. But it turns out that wasn’t the case. Just days before a Jan. 2 deadline, with Celgene's shares reeling, Bristol-Myers pulled its $57-per-share bid—and won a lower price instead.

Top Stories Of The Week

Gilead drops anti-BCMA CAR-T from Kite, takes $820M charge

Buried in among Gilead’s fourth-quarter results statement is a line revealing it has abandoned an anti-BCMA cell therapy for multiple myeloma, part of its $12 billion acquisition of Kite Pharma.

Amid R&D rejigs, GlaxoSmithKline axes 6 pipeline assets

GlaxoSmithKline is cutting a host of unwanted investigational drugs as it joins other Big Pharmas in the fourth-quarter clearout.

[Sponsored] Amgen Doubles Down on Helping Patients with Multiple Myeloma

While advancements have been made, multiple myeloma remains incurable. Amgen is striving to improve the lives of patients. USA-171-80483

Merck analysts to CEO: What’s so great about your pipeline beyond Keytruda?

Merck's reliance on its blockbuster I-O drug Keytruda has worried market watchers for a while, and now that 2019 revenue expectations are on the low side, those worries have intensified. Yes, Keytruda soared 66% in the fourth quarter, but the company badly needs to diversify beyond the star drug, analysts said.

‘De-integration’ of Sandoz from Novartis expected to include manufacturing cuts

Novartis had what CEO Vas Narasimhan called a transformative year in manufacturing in 2018 as it closed or sold eight facilities and restructured eight others to be more efficient. But more is in store for manufacturing over the next 18 months as Novartis transforms its generics unit Sandoz into an “autonomous unit within Novartis.”

Slack telegraphs moves into healthcare as it gears up for IPO: report

The ubiquitous messaging company Slack has confidentially filed for an IPO—except not-so-confidentially, as it went public with the news on its own earlier this week with a press release.

Anti-rejection drug rapamycin shows promise in liver cancer

Inhibiting the mTOR protein has been tried before in liver cancer but with little success. More than 20% of patients have a gene mutation that could make them particularly responsive to the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin, University of Pittsburgh scientists have now discovered.

Merck’s Prevnar challenger nabs FDA ‘breakthrough’ tag. Should Pfizer be worried?

Merck & Co.’s endeavor to challenge Prevnar 13, the world’s best-selling vaccine, just got a speed-up. But except for a small head start in phase 3 trials, the blockbuster's would-be rival doesn’t appear to have a big lead over Pfizer, which is developing a 20-strain shot.

Trump's HIV pledge comes as Gilead pumps cash into Truvada for PrEP

Gilead is looking to eventually sub out HIV drug Truvada with Descovy when it comes to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. But in the meantime, it’s socking resources into Truvada.

Private equity firm acquires Welsh CRO Simbec-Orion for undisclosed price

Welsh CRO Simbec-Orion was acquired by U.K.-based private equity firm CBPE Capital for an undisclosed price. The deal will provide funding for international expansion for the CRO, particularly in the U.S. and European markets.

Enrollment Showcase

Online Graduate Programs Designed for Your Career

Drexel University’s online graduate programs in biomedicine, clinical research, drug discovery, and molecular medicine were developed with working professionals in mind, providing you with the education, practical skills, and competitive edge you need to be successful in your career. Learn more.

Resources

[Whitepaper] Managing Demand Uncertainty in Biologics Production

When a biologics company prepares to launch a new product, it must forecast the manufacturing capacity it will need, factoring in its estimate of the size of future sales, the timing of the launch, the dosage of the product, its strategy for building its market and a host of other variables.

[Whitepaper] RTSM/IRT: A Roadmap For Developing Systems That Address Current Frustrations

92% of survey respondents make changes to their RTSM/IRT systems due to study changes. See what else puts a strain on their clinical trials. Download the Research Whitepaper.

[Whitepaper] Six API Challenges That could be Slowing your Development

Download this whitepaper to learn more.

[Whitepaper] Engaging Organized Customers in the Era of the Quadruple Aim

Explore how the pharma industry can adapt its approach to the changing healthcare marketplace in the era of the Quadruple Aim

[Whitepaper] Clinical Validation of a Powerful Immune Assay for Patient Selection

Learn how Health Expression Models provide increased sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for characterizing immune response in solid tumor specimens.

[Whitepaper] Host Cell Protein Analysis in Biologic Drug Development

This whitepaper reviews fundamental aspects of HCPs that pertain to biologic drug development and presents current and emerging approaches to HCP analysis.

[Whitepaper] Integrating clinical research at the Point of Care—A New Operating Model

Clinical trials take too long and cost too much—here's what needs to change.

[Whitepaper] Better Market Intelligence With Smart Search

It’s never been more challenging to stay on top of competitive factors impacting your industry. Discover how AI can help competitive teams achieve more proactive market intelligence.

[POCKET GUIDE] 3 Steps To Supercharge Your Literature Search

Go from Search to Full-Text Scientific Papers in a Single Click!

[Whitepaper] Achieving launch excellence in the challenging healthcare markets of today

This white paper consists of original data and expert interviews. Download it today for exclusive tools, tips and analysis on achieving launch excellence in challenging pharma markets.

[Whitepaper] Liquid Biopsy Investor Toolkit

With the liquid biopsy market maturing and >80 companies still competing with liquid biopsy offerings, it is crucial for investors to be able to cut through the noise and identify the winners.

[eBook] 2018 Weekly Compendium

The Biopharma industry is moving at lightning speed and it can be a challenge to keep pace. Here at Biotech Primer we spend hours each week researching, writing, and editing original content for the Biotech Primer WEEKLY with one goal in mind: to help everyone better understand the latest science and technology driving today’s healthcare industry.